The Louisiana father Shamar Elkins who killed eight children, including 7 of his own, had mental health issues.
31-year-old Shamar Elkins, a former army man who killed eight children, including seven of his own, has been visited by disturbed thoughts recently due to his turbulent marital relationship with his wife.
The New York Times reported that Elkins called his mother, Mahela Elkins, on Easter Sunday and told her that he wanted to commit suicide and was immersed in “dark thoughts.” “I told him, ‘You can get through things, man. I don’t care what you’re going through, you can get through it,'” said Marcus Jackson, his stepfather. “Then I remember him saying to me: ‘Some people never come back from their demons.’”Eight children were killed and two other people were seriously injured in a shooting called Lousiana’s worst tragedy.
Authorities said the incident occurred at at least three locations in Shreveport, and ended with Elkins being fatally shot after a police chase Sunday morning. Elkins had mental health problems. The Shreveport Police Department said the children ranged in age from 1 to 14, and seven of the eight were Elkins’ children.
All of them were killed execution style. Elkins’ wife, Shanika Pugh, was also shot while there.
She was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
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After the shooting, Elkins forcibly seized a vehicle, and police officers pursued him. The officers opened fire and Elkins died. But it is not clear whether the officers killed Elkins or if he died from his self-inflicted gunshot wound.Elkins married in 2024. His mother told the New York Times that she was unaware of the problems her son was having with his wife. Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from August 2013 to August 2020 as a signal support system specialist and fire support specialist, the Army said in a statement.
He had no deployment and left the Army as a private.Elkins’ mother said she had him when she was a teenager and struggled with a cocaine addiction, so she left him to be raised by a family friend, Betty Walker. She reconnected with her son more than a decade ago but never became close. Elkins had at least two previous convictions, including drunk driving in 2016 and unlawful use of a weapon in 2019.
